This was the headline of a recent BBC Tech article, and it is worth a read at https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c4gj39zk1k0o.
Amongst the suggestions is that people’s use of personal data is the currency in return for services such as social media.
For an up to date review of how tracking pixels are being used by some social media companies, have a look at this week’s Security Now! podcast show notes. You can open the PDF with the link https://www.grc.com/sn/sn-1071-notes.pdf and the article starts on page 8.
This is why it’s so important to embed Privacy By Design ion your systems, processes and campaigns. You can see the ICO’s guidance at https://ico.org.uk/for-organisations/uk-gdpr-guidance-and-resources/designing-products-that-protect-privacy/privacy-in-the-product-design-lifecycle/.